Photographing insects is like browsing garage sales on a Sunday afternoon, except nearly every day you can come home with stuff that would make the appraisers on Antiques Road Show wet their knickers. I originally started photographing live insects back in the late 1970's, using a Nikon FM film camera. Film and processing costs eventually forced me to abandon my pursuit, however. With the advent of digital cameras capable of images of 3 megapixels or so, I realized here was a way to enjoy my old hobby again, with each image virtually free. I now take 20,000 + insect photos each season. I love being out in the field, and I enjoy learning about these amazingly complex and beautiful creatures. It's the greatest free show on earth!

There is an incredible amount of beauty in the natural world. I've been surprised and stunned many times after coming home and downloading the camera to find out a spider or fly or damselfly has colors or structures I never imagined existed in nature. It's like looking through a microscope or telescope for the first time; you will see things you'd otherwise never encounter in everyday life.

"There is as much to be discovered and to astonish in magnifying an insect as a star." --Thaddeus William Harris